Chocolate Covered Anything Day
by JDPhoenix
Summary: Holiday Chaos 11. Kimberly is on bedrest and the coming holidays are a bit too full of chaos for Tommy's liking.


Disclaimer: If I owned anything... the show would not include zord battles. There, that's how you'll know if anything changes on that front.

Author's Note: You can probably read this on its own, but I recommend going back and reading from the start (St. George's Day). And to those of you who aren't new: Whoo! I actually got a new one up! The next one will be the 26th (though I work that day so the chapter may be up late (like the 27th for those of you on the other side of the world)). Oh, and yes, I know this isn't as funny as the others, but the next one should be humorous (Conner's in the next one).

**Chocolate Covered Anything Day**

by JDPhoenix

Tommy stood in the corner of the room, fearfully watching Kimberly's prone form. He had just gotten up to go to the bathroom--and not even a real bathroom, a hole in the ground outside the lab because Kimberly had ears like a hawk and could hear water moving through any pipe in the whole house--and on his way back to bed he had stupidly stubbed his toe on the dresser, sending a music box tumbling to the ground. Now he was fearfully holding the music box in his hands and praying that Kimberly did not move. After five minutes he sighed and dropped his invisibility.

"Tommy," Kim groaned, rolling over--apparently she could hear invisibility being dropped.

"Sorry," Tommy said. He put the music box back in place and laid down beside his wife. "Have I ever told you that you look beautiful in the predawn light?"

"Predawn?" Kim asked with a moan.

"Yeah, have I said sorry yet?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't hurt to say it again." Kim lifted her swollen ankles high into the air and sent them down while pushing her upper body up. "There," she said, once she was upright. "Now I need a rest."

Tommy hurried around the bed and took her hands. "Come on, we'll go downstairs and I'll make you breakfast and massage your feet and we'll spend the whole day just sitting around the house."

"Mmm, that sounds good," Kim said as Tommy lifted her into his arms and carried her downstairs. He deposited her gently on the couch and handed her the remote.

"Now," he said, "you just sit right there and watch TV and I'll bring you your breakfast in about half an hour."

"Sounds good," Kim said, settling into the cushions.

Tommy snuck into the next room and began examining the contents of the kitchen. Between teaching and Lamaze classes and trying to not be a superhero he hadn't exactly had time to shop. Kim had been put on bed rest the day before Thanksgiving--Tommy still shuddered to remember Black Friday.

"_Tommy, you have to hurry!" Kim snapped. She had woken up at one that morning and forced Tommy to take a shower. Her cries had probably saved his life though. He'd fallen asleep in the shower and was about to go down the way of so many turkeys during the rainy season. Things didn't get any easier once he was dressed. "Come on, Tommy," Kim taunted, reminding him of every single time she had been turned evil during their teen years, "you're the greatest Ranger alive, you should be able to carry your pregnant wife down the stairs." _

"_Why do I have to carry you down again?" Tommy asked, struggling to keep awake because he knew that Kimberly would kill him if he dropped her. _

"_I don't want Trini to have to keep going up and down the stairs." _

"_Trini?" Tommy asked as they entered the living room. Sure enough, Trini was sitting comfortably in an arm chair while Jason lay sleeping on the couch. _

"_Good morning, sunshine," Trini said happily. _

"_How did you get in here?" Tommy asked. _

"_You gave us a key." _

_Tommy silently swore to steal the key back first chance he got. He walked over to the couch and kicked Jason in the shoulder. Jason groaned. _

"_Get up," Tommy said. _

_Jason opened his eyes slightly. "Oh, right," he said and rolled off the couch. He crawled to the nearest arm chair and laid down in it. _

"_Not so fast," Trini said, pushing Jason back up as Tommy set Kim down. Jason was too tired to fight back and was left swaying from foot to foot. _

"_You two," Kim said, "have to hurry." _

"_Why?" Tommy said. "It's pitch black out." _

_Trini and Kim smiled at each other the way grown ups do when children are especially naïve. "This," Trini said slowly, "is the biggest shopping day of the year." She stood and walked to the coffee table. Tommy hadn't noticed the box that the Scotts had no doubt brought along. Trini opened it and pulled two small cameras out. These were attached to ear pieces so that whoever wore them could hear and talk to whoever was watching the feed. Trini fixed them to the men's ears. "We'll watch from here," she said, "and guide you. I want you both to go to the mall, now." _

"_What about breakfast?" Tommy asked. _

_Jason shoved a Taco Bell bag into Tommy's chest. "Enjoy," he grunted. Tommy didn't dare open the bag. There was a time and place for that kind of smell and two in the morning when your stomach was still asleep was definitely not it. _

"_Go," Trini said. _

"_But--" the men began. _

"_Go!" Kim yelled. _

_The men were out the door in a matter of seconds. _

Tommy shrugged off the memory. If he thought about it too long he'd get mad that Kimberly had forced him up four hours earlier than he had accidentally woken her up today. He definitely didn't want to have a fight with her now. It wasn't just the pregnancy--it was Christmas. In one week his in laws would arrive from France and the next day his family and Kim's father would come down and he'd be stuck in a land filled with half-truths and judgments about the way he lived. Kimberly understood, she had actually been more than happy to move into Tommy's house. It was far enough from town to afford the privacy she craved both as a Ranger and a gold medalist. Her family on the other hand, could not understand why she would choose to live in what they called "the middle of nowhere."

He quickly pushed the eggs onto two plates and buttered the toast the way he knew Kimberly preferred: a thin layer of butter followed by a thick layer of strawberry jam. He brought the simple plates out to Kim, only to find her fast asleep. Tommy quietly set the plates down before grabbing a blanket from the back of the couch and tucking her in. As he pushed the blankets down around her he kissed her gently on the forehead and on her swollen belly. He took the plates back into the kitchen, placing hers beside the sink in case she woke up before it cooled off too much and starting in on his own. He had barely taken two bites when a quiet scraping from the back door sent him running. He hurriedly closed the door between the living room and kitchen before grabbing a knife from the counter and adopting a defensive stance before the back door. The scraping continued for several more seconds and Tommy could hear muffled voices. The scraping sound was replaced by a clacking sound that Tommy was ashamed to say he recognized as the sound of someone picking the lock. The hammers fell into place and the door swung open with a small squeak. On the other side were Trini and Jason, crouched low. Trini was holding lock picks in her hands and both of them were staring wide-eyed at Tommy.

"Morning," Jason said.

Tommy tried to put a finger to his lips and stopped himself just before he cut his head open with the knife. He set the knife down on the counter and went out onto the porch, closing the door gently behind him.

"You changed the locks," Trini said once the door was closed.

"I change them every six months," Tommy said, "same day I flip the mattress."

"Why?" Jason asked.

"Because there's a price on my head that can feed a third world country for a year."

Trini smacked Jason good-naturedly in the stomach, "We're changing the locks when we get home."

"What are you doing here?" Tommy asked.

Jason pointed to a pile of suitcases at the bottom of the steps. "Trini's moving in."

"What?"

"Just for a few weeks," Trini said.

"Why?"

"It wasn't an easy decision. We kept going around and around. For a while it looked like Dana would have to do it."

"Dana? Who kept going around and around?"

"Me and the girls. We were trying to figure out who was going to move in here."

"Why do any of you have to?"

"Well, it all started on Black Friday."

_Trini and Kim were still sitting where they had been when the men had left. Trini had risen for only a few minutes to make breakfast and to find Kim an extra pillow. _

"_They're doing well," Kim said. The video feed from the men's cameras was on the TV. _

"_Ooh!" Trini winced, seeing Jason jump over a fallen old lady. He had learned quickly not to help them up. The first time he'd seen one go down he'd ignored Trini's orders to leave her and had been rewarded for his chivalry with a purse to the head and Alyssa's pasta maker being stolen. _

_Tommy's voice crackled over the speakers, "This is worse than the time we--" _

_Jason cut him off. "This is worse than any of the times." _

"_Yeah," Tommy agreed, hefting an HD DVD player into his cart. _

_Kim and Trini laughed. _

"_Oh," Trini said, turning off the microphones on their end. "This is priceless." _

"_We don't need any of that stuff," Kim sighed, "we can just give everyone DVDs of this." _

"_We so should. What are you guys doing for Christmas, by the way?" _

"_Staying here," Kim grumbled. "I hate being on bed rest." _

"_So, your families are coming here? How are you going to keep them out of the lab?" _

"_I have no idea. Maybe we'll give them the truth for Christmas." _

"_I can see that. They'll all bring baby gifts and casseroles and you'll give them strokes." _

"_Too much?" _

"_I think you'd be better off faking labor if someone got too close." _

"_It's only a week. My mom and step-dad come that Sunday and leave a week later, just before New Year's. We'll manage." _

"_When have you ever known Tommy Oliver to go a week without any Ranger craziness?" _

"_Never, but we'll make it work. I promise, Trini, it'll be fine." Kim stared longingly at the television screen. "I really wish I could be there." _

"_We'll shop next year, leave the boys home with the baby." _

"_Sounds great." _

Tommy leaned against the porch railing, arms crossed. "What, besides the idea of you two giving Jason's and my most embarrassing moments as Christmas gifts, should concern me about that story?"

"I did some hacking," Trini said smugly. "Your mother-in-law didn't buy a return ticket."

Tommy's face paled. "What?"

"I'm only hear to give the illusion of someone helping out with the baby. Once your relatives leave, I'm gone."

"What about your Christmas?"

Jason smiled sheepishly. "That's what we need to talk to you about. Our families all know each other. We were thinking we should just have a really big get together here."

Tommy nodded. Kim would no doubt feel better about being stationary if she had someone to vent to about her mother's judgmental attitude.

"I'll have to ask Kim," he said. "She's probably up again by now." He led the two of them into the house and through the door into the living room. "Kim?" he called quietly. "Kim!"

* * *

Kimberly knew she shouldn't have, but she didn't want to make Tommy carry her back up the stairs. She sat in the rocking chair that had once been her great-grandmother's, humming a lullaby she remembered from her childhood. The nursery was painted a pale green with pink trim. They didn't know the sex of the baby yet, but had agreed that a combination of their two (in Tommy's case, original) colors would work out perfectly. There was a white crib in the corner and a toy box that was already overflowing beside the closet filled with all sorts of clothes. Zack had given them the mobile that hung over the crib; it was small felt versions of each of the original zords. Trent had promise to paint a mural on the ceiling when he returned for Christmas break and Kim was looking forward to seeing what it was. But more than that, she was sad to know that she wouldn't be able to sit here for a few days because of the fumes. The nursery was her favorite room in the house. It wasn't because this was where her child would live, though that was a big part of it, it was because so much of both of her lives had come together here. 

"Kim!" Tommy cried, bursting into the room.

Kim smiled up at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You should carry me back downstairs," she said, seeing Jason and Trini over Tommy's shoulder. "And then you and Jason need to go get some chocolate chips and whatever else you feel like."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like eating something smothered in chocolate."

Tommy smiled.

"Sounds good to me."


End file.
